


Have a Little Faith

by Silverskye13



Series: The Stairs to the Core (Grillster Stories) [12]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Late Night Conversations, Post-War, dark darker yet darker, implied depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 13:17:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14977967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverskye13/pseuds/Silverskye13
Summary: Another prompt from TumblrPrompt:Could we get some Sans and Grillby friendship? Love your work!





	Have a Little Faith

**Author's Note:**

> (I have not written anything for Sans in two years please forgive me I have no idea how to write him anymore pffhaha)

“Hey G, a little late for you, isn’t it?”

Grillby paused in the process of locking the door to his bar, casting a glance over his shoulder at Sans as he approached from down the street. Grillby flickered a tired smile in his direction. 

“I could say the same for you,” Grillby crackled a chuckle. He hiked the collar of his jacket higher against the chill wind of the night - or perhaps morning, “What’s got you out so late?”

Sans smirked, “Not because I fell asleep at the guard station, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Grillby shook his head and sighed, “You really should take that job more seriously.”

“A human hasn’t fallen down here for years, G,” Sans pointed out, “And besides, I’ve got you to save my bacon if one does right?”

Grillby shrugged in return. He was too tired and too cold to argue. It may be for the best that Sans sleep at his post anyway. Heaven’s knows what would happen should the stout skeleton ever have to confront a human. Grillby would rather Sans be passed by altogether. They turned to walk down the road together in comfortable silence - comfortable for Grillby at least. He could tell there was something on Sans’ mind other than a sleeping spell in the middle of the forest, but he chose not to pry. Sans had a habit of speaking his mind, hypothetically or otherwise. In some ways he was nearly as easy to read as his father, even without the expressive signs. Certainly easier to read than Papyrus, who often seemed to spout only faint portions of wherever his thoughts rambled.

“Hey G, I’ve been wondering-”

_There it is._

“ - do you worry about all this war nonsense still?”

Grillby flashed Sans a sideways glance, “What’s got you thinking about war nonsense?”

“Well… it’s just,” Sans gave a subtle flourish of his wrist, something he likely picked up from Gaster, “Asgore obviously seems kinda stuck in the past. Ya know, with the whole war on humanity thing that’s been going on for years. And Dad’s got his… barrier work… stuff… that he get’s kinda obsessed with.”

“Obsessed is an understatement.”

“Yeah he goes through phases with it,” Sans shrugged, “ _Anyway_ , you seem pretty chill on the whole humanity thing. I mean, ya don’t like me sleeping on the job right? But you don’t really talk about the surface or getting back to it, or like how crappy humans are or anything. I dunno… what keeps you so calm about it all?”

“What keeps  _you_ so calm about it all?” Grillby countered. 

“That’s easy,” Sans chuckled, “I’ve never seen the surface. And y’know, I don’t think the Underground is all that bad. Sure we get a little crowded but, ya know, it’s home.”

Sans looked up at Grillby then, his expression hard to read. He was questioning, maybe suspicious. Maybe worrying.

“There’s not a lot of you guys left from before the war,” he said flatly, “But all of ‘em I’ve met seem to be pinin’ hard for the surface.” 

There was a pause.

“All of ‘em but you.”

Another pause.

“I dunno, was just kinda wondering why not?”

Grillby didn’t respond for a long while. He didn’t want to. There was a quiet writhing in his soul, something he normally stifled. Something that didn’t matter, that  _shouldn’t_ matter. Nothing should matter really, aside from the bar, aside from his work and his friends and his life. Nothing aside from the crunching of the snow beneath his feet now, the tug of wind against his coat. His house was in view now. He wondered faintly if he could make it inside without talking much more. 

“You’re turning colors, G,” Sans pointed out, breaking the silence, “What’re you thinking?”

Grillby sighed a huff of smoke, “Honestly Sans?”

“As honestly as you wanna.”

The elemental smirked, and then shook his head, “I’ve given up on reaching the surface.”

“Really? Even with the work Dad’s putting in?”

Grillby let out a soft, thoughtful  _tsk,_ “I think if any monster can get monsterkind to the surface, it’s your father.”

“But, you don’t think he’ll do it in your lifetime?”

Grillby shook his head.

“What makes ya say that?”

The elemental shrugged, and he felt that writhing feeling in his chest tug a little harder.

“I’d have a little more faith G, honestly,” Sans said with a smirk, “You’re an elemental right? You’ll live longer than the rest of us probably.”

“Probably,” Grillby hummed back quietly.

“So if Dad can really get us outta here, he’ll get you too.”

“ _Mhm_.”

“Unless there’s uh… somethin’ you’re not telling us.”

“Nothing specific comes to mind.”

They stopped at Grillby’s doorstep then. The rough underfoot crunching of their feet in the snow silenced abruptly. A soft flurry had started picking up as they walked, and now Grillby and Sans stood under the relative shelter of his porch and watched it fall. There was always something somewhat magical about snowfall to Grillby. It was silent, severe. It was always hard to gauge just how much would fall or how quickly. Something that looked like a blizzard could leave less than a dusting on some tree tops, or you could wake up the following morning unable to open your door. 

Grillby sighed out a breath of smoke, catching up Sans’ attention, “It’s been awhile since we all had a dinner together, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, Dad’s busy a lot,” Sans shrugged, “And Fuku’s off at school, right?”

Grillby nodded, “She’s coming home this weekend.”

“Hey that’s great.”

“Think you could manage to convince Gaster to join us for an evening?”

“It’s worth a try.”

“Hmm.”

Grillby turned to unlock his front door, and with the motion Sans waved a quick good-bye and started off towards his own house. He stopped before he made it too far though, and turned back to Grillby just as the elemental managed to open the door.

“Hey uh… Papyrus has  _really_ been wanting to take up cooking. Maybe you wanna spend a couple evenings over at our place? Ya know, give you something to do.”

Grillby flickered a warm smile, “I thought Papyrus didn’t like my cooking?”

“Eh, he needs to learn from  _someone_ ,” Sans chuckled, “And it sure ain’t me. I burn water.”

He grinned in Grillby’s direction for a moment before saying a little more seriously, “It’ll be okay G. Dad’ll get you up to the surface again someday. Promise.”

“I’m sure he will.”

Sans flashed an uncertain look in Grillby’s direction as if he wanted to say something more. Then he sighed and shrugged, and waved, “G’night G.”

“Goodnight Sans.”

Grillby stood and watched until Sans was a little ways up the street before finally turning to go inside himself. He didn’t feel comforted, and the squeamish feeling in his chest still teemed a little. He was disappointed he’d made the skeleton worry, but it couldn’t be helped. 

Grillby watched the snow fall from his window for awhile before falling asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This kinda-sorta goes with Stairs to the Core, but I might move it out of that set later when I see how the rest of the story takes shape in the future. As it stands this short is farther in the future than all the other ones I have, so we'll just have to see how jarring that jump is later!
> 
> Anyway. I always figured Grillby and Sans’ friendship was a pretty sober one. They’re both silent worriers who just want other people to be happy without really knowing how to intervene for that to happen. Or maybe they do know, they just don’t want to put in the effort.


End file.
